


all the tired lights and bright sounds

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boxing, Blood and Injury, Boxing & Fisticuffs, College Student Rey (Star Wars), Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Professor Ben Solo, Rey is a boxer and Ben is her sad puppy, rey gets knocked around a bit but she always comes out on top!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:54:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23810392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rey has fought her way into the street fighting scene as well as professional women's boxing. What happens when her Physical Chemistry teacher catches up to her after a fight? She's broken and bloody but what passes between them is undeniable. His soft touch on her broken nose cements her iron will.She will have Ben Solo
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28





	all the tired lights and bright sounds

**Author's Note:**

> this _is_ teacher/student but rey's definitely of age! don't forget to follow @reylo_ficrecs on tiktok, she's betaing this and a complete angel!

*~*~* 

CHAPTER 1

*~*~*

The fight is loud and rowdy. Between the loud cheering of the boys and the clink of beer bottles, the noise is really getting out of control. Yet Rey’s only concern is the girl in front of her, and how quickly she can end this fight and go home with her money. Rey has fought many petulant men -- who told her street fighting was not in any woman’s blood-- to be in this arena. But is it really an arena, she wonders? Is this a fight for her pride (and rent money), or merely a fight to not ever go back to being as poor, hungry, and tired as she was as a kid? Is it simply just another street corner, in which she’s scavenging for bread crumbs, lost as ever? 

  
The cops were never welcome at fights, although Rey had known that a few of the younger members of the force would turn up on Saturday nights. The fights are, of course, illegal -- street fighting is banned in Great Britain. As loud and rough as this crowd can be on even the slowest nights, the veterans in the bunch are always keeping a sharp eye on the horizon for the first sign to turn tail and run. 

  
Rey suddenly feels, more than sees, the change of mood in the crowd that always heralds oncoming police. A familiar feeling of resignation sinks in, and she knows she has to act fast. 

  
The whistle and blare of sirens allow her to get a hit on the other girl, and she goes down. Rey doesn’t stop to glory at her win but takes off running at a clip. She can’t afford to get put in a cell tonight, not that that had ever happened before but… she didn’t want to think about what would happen if it did. 

  
Rey runs through the streets. She’s unnaturally fast, her small frame working in her favor in this one regard, and built with sinewy muscle. “Run Miss Rey! Run!” A guy, undoubtedly the grocer that always places a fifty-pound note on her, yells after her as she speeds past on the lane. It’s the middle of nowhere in the English countryside, so she’s not sure how the people of the town find out about the fight so quickly. Of course, the authorities get called in, she rolls her eyes at that, they like the fights and she suspected they were only trying to see her fight. Her landlord always covers for her, though. Mr. Johnson is a kind man who, for the last four years, helped her out when times were tough. The second floor flat he’s rented to her has been her only real home all her life. 

She darts up her stairs and Mr. Johnson sticks his head in her flat. “So, that must’ve been quite a fight?” 

She’s panting and sweating, pacing somewhat in the small upstairs flat. She feels frustrated that the fight went so… quickly. The bell had rung and they’d circled each other several times, but she’d gotten the knockout hit on a technicality. She sighs. It’s going to be a long night if the coppers take her away. 

“It’s fine, I didn’t even take a hit,” Rey says as she fixes her long ponytail, which had gotten pulled during the fight by an onlooker. Men were like that. If a woman was powerful, they had to drag her down. But Rey was reigning boxing champion in the Northwest when she did go to fights legally. The Noble Sport, they called it, but she had to disagree. There was nothing noble about giving girls bloody noses, and black eyes. But she’d grown up getting into scrappy fights with other girls, she was always the smallest and had to learn to defend herself at the orphanage against the kids who liked to pull her ponytail. Her hair had always been something of a liability, but she’d cut it when hell froze over. Boxing had been a way of life for too long for her to leave it behind now. 

The sirens wail loudly, and she cringes, but they pass, as they always do. Her sore legs and the place where someone pulled her ponytail throb dully. She’s thankful to Mr. Johnson, she always is.

Mr. Johnson waves her goodnight and tells her to shower. Rey sniffs herself surreptitiously and grimaces. She smells like someone spilled beer on her... which is probably true. 

After a shower, with one of her homemade shower steamers -- she couldn’t afford the store-bought ones -- she settles in for the night as she casts a glance around her flat. It’s a modest little place, with a fireplace in the front room, overlooking a small convenience store and cafe. The walls are covered with a pretty wallpaper that seems like it had been redone just before she moved in. She’s got her raggedy furniture in here, an armchair with a little pillow that has the British flag embroidered into it, and a little love seat opposite that. There’s a layer of clutter on nearly every surface -- mail, spare boxing gloves, school papers. She wishes that becoming an adult came with time to clean her apartment… but living on her own, boxing at a professional level, and going to school full-time left her with virtually no time to even breathe. 

So instead of cleaning, she collapses into her threadbare loveseat, pulls out the remote to the TV, and flicks on something mindless on the telly. She falls into an uneasy sleep, and when the alarm on her phone goes off at 5am the next morning she hits snooze.

*~*~* 

Rey is late for her physical chemistry class the next morning -- and adding insult to injury, she’d managed to give herself an almighty crick in her neck from her love seat. Turns out sleeping with her head on the arm of it had been a far worse idea than going to the fight. 

Luckily, her professor is late too. She sees him walk in, his hair perfectly styled. He seems to be trying to play it cool, but she suspects he’s hungover. Professor Solo isn’t all that much older than her... she can see him partying it up. 

The slam of a thick packet of paper on her desk forcibly yanks her from her reverie. 

“Look alive, Miss Smithson,” his deep, husky voice cuts in. 

“Yessir,” She snaps back, and he ignores it. Professor Solo is… an enigma. She can never place what he wants from her. She’s not sure she wants to know what she desires from him.

He moves through the class, giving the test out, and then stands in front of the class, “You have the whole period. If anyone needs extra time,” his eyes cut up to the class wearily, and Rey swears they flicker toward her for just a moment. “That’s too bad.” 

She inhales and dives into the test. 

It’s a bitch of a test, and she knows she’s going to fail it. She walks out of the exam and slumps against the wall outside the classroom, feeling the weight of her failure on her shoulders as if she’s Atlas carrying the globe. 

Unfortunately, Professor Solo is not known for offering extra credit or retests. She pushes up to standing, her powerful frame coiled with sudden anxiety. She walks out, but not before turning around to look back. 

Solo is staring at her, and he shakes his head slightly. She’s concerned he might’ve heard about the fight. That would be the only logical reason for him to stare at her, right? She snaps her head forward again, she strides away, carrying herself forward quickly and, she hopes, gracefully. She doesn’t want him to see her weak. 

*~*~* 

At the next fight, Rey gets clobbered. The girl is… vicious, for lack of a better word. Her name is Phasma and she’s a new fighter, not from the University. Rey finally thinks that this might be it for her, she’s going to have to throw in the towel on street fighting. It’s too dangerous. Her nose is properly broken, and she has two black eyes. She walks away after losing her first-ever fight, and even though there are no cops tonight she sits on the ground, tears brimming in her eyes. She cries, and the tears burn. That can't be good. 

Rey is distracted by her own misery, she cries and doesn’t hear the surprisingly soft footfalls of someone approaching. How will she support herself? She desperately needed the money from this fight. She can’t believe that a new fighter beat her so badly. 

“Miss Smithson.” Professor Solo’s husky tones reach her ears, and she looks wildly around. 

“Professor?” She asks the open air. 

He steps out from the shadows, and she realizes how this must look. One of her eyes is nearly swollen shut, she’s got two black eyes, and her nose is dripping blood down her face. She’s a train wreck. 

“That was a shit fight, she wasn’t in your weight class,” Professor Solo has a cigarette between two fingers and a bottle of beer in his other hand. She’d never expected him to be the smoking and drinking type. Maybe… he’s just as lonely as her? All the same, Rey cannot believe that his first words to her outside the classroom were about illegal street fighting... _Men_ , she grouses. She schools her expression to look neutral, wearing her defiance as a shield. 

It’s a small town, it’s not uncommon for Professors and students to bump into each other, but this is something else. She scoffs, “I knew you were hungover today, _Professor_.” There’s an edge to her tone that she wasn’t expecting to hear, even from her own mouth. She shakes her head and feels her slight concussion pain her.

“What can I say? I’m only twenty-seven, I’m not an old man yet.” There’s a note of finality in his voice as if this discussion is over, but Rey suspects he’s trying to divert them from a crisis. Her eyes go to his mouth, and she notices his lips look soft. She cannot think about that right now. She can’t be weak, not for him.

Her voice is defiant when she speaks, “Why did you come here? I’m assuming you didn't come to cheer me on?” 

There’s a pregnant pause, in which Professor Solo takes a drag from his cigarette and a long swig from his beer. “I wanted to see you,” he says finally. 

Her stomach seems to fill with about a thousand angry butterflies. She inhales softly, but she suspects he’s heard her. It feels like this is getting into dangerous territory. She’s always noticed him around campus but until she had class with him she didn’t realize the depth of her desire for him. He’s incredibly attractive, his black, shoulder-length hair falling into his face as he looks down, his face cast in shadows. She wishes she could touch his hair... But no, Professor Solo is someone she’ll always know is off-limits. 

“You know, wanting to see your student, like this..” She points to her face as if the black and blue marks are an accusation of the night’s activities, “It means something.” She thinks it means he might want to care about her, which scares her and thrills her at the same time. 

He laughs and it dawns on her they’re only five years apart. It’s not that wild that she would be attracted to him. She wants to touch him, wants his soft, plush lips on her own. But her face hurts, and they're standing too far apart. 

He steps closer, and all of a sudden she thinks she might actually swoon. She feels her breath come faster, a visceral desire she’s never felt before, taking over. With the utmost care, he brushes his thumb against the tip of her broken nose. She’s surprised it doesn’t hurt, but he’s so gentle it simply feels like if he could, he’d heal her right then and there. She chases the fleeting sense of affection, turning her cheek into his hand. They stay like that for a long beat. 

But he pulls away. “Goodnight, Miss Smithson,” he says, turning to disappear back into the shadows.

Rey gives a little bereft groan, feeling like her heart has been hollowed out to nothing. She hears him laugh to himself, the sound getting fainter and fainter. 

  
*~*~* 

Her broken nose and black eyes ache in class the next day and she spends the five minutes before class begins with her head in her hands. 

The tests come back and while he’s passing them out, Rey finds that she’s nervous she’s going to get back her paper with an A. Professor Solo is very clearly interested in her somehow, in his own way. She would feel horrible if their interaction had led to her getting a grade she didn’t deserve. She was usually an all A’s and B’s student. A scandal would hurt her GPA and her chances of getting into graduate school. Rey didn’t want to have all her dreams go down the toilet, but she also doesn’t want to feel cheap, and getting a grade she didn’t deserve would sink her self-esteem. 

Instead, she looks at the brilliant red F, and breathes a sigh of relief. It’s going to tank her grade, but at least her dignity would remain intact. She suddenly feels exhausted. 

Professor Solo puts the statistics onto the board, and slams the chalk down in the holder. “I have never had a class fail the first, and may I add, easiest, exam of the year.” He crosses his arms across his broad chest, and says, “We’re going to go over the test, quickly so no one can say you don’t know the answers.”

Professor Solo then went over the test, at lightning speed and made sure to make some pointed comments about the lab for next week. “This lab is designed to test your skill in a laboratory, I don’t want anyone being unsafe, and any broken test tubes will result in a five-point deduction from your grade.” 

The class groans, and when Rey gets up to leave, he calls her name. “Miss Smithson? A word?” 

Rey turns on her heel and marches up to him, feeling broken and frustrated. He looks angry, but Rey can’t tell if he’s angry with her or the situation. She knows he’s the brooding type, and she feels his anger palpably. It feels like it’s directed at me. “You need to bring up your grade,” he says, his tone clipped. She knows she does, but addressing her like this, with most of the class still filtering out of the room, makes her nervous. She feels the frustration in the pit of her stomach churn. She cannot think of what to make of this man. 

“I need to do a lot of things, Professor,” she hisses through her teeth at him. 

“My office, tomorrow. During office hours we’ll go over the test,” He looks suddenly tired as if his late-night had been spent fighting too, and she can’t believe how easy he is to read. “I’m offering this opportunity to everyone,” he clarifies, “so don’t think this is special treatment.” 

She scoffs. “I think pigs will fly before I get special treatment from you.” 

He shakes his head, and sips his coffee. “I doubt that.” 

At that, Rey storms off, trying to keep her temper in check. That’s one of the problems with being a fighter... she’s quick to anger. Rey knows she has a wicked temper and a short fuse to boot -- that’s what happens when nothing is ever yours, and no one ever cares about your emotions. She knows she needs to get a good hold on her anger before it suffocates her. Desperate, she goes to the gym and pulls her boxing gloves out of her bag and punches, again, and again, imagining Professor Solo’s face on the swinging bag. 

  
*~*~* 

Rey wakes up the next morning at 6am, even though it’s a Saturday. Rose has agreed to come over for a run and shows up at 6:15, before Rey has even had her tea. “You can’t have tea before you run!” Rose says animatedly. “Won’t it make you cramp up?” Rey sets out two cups for tea and turns on the electric kettle. She gets the milk out and sets it down heavily. Her nose and face are swollen and she looks really bad. 

“I know you haven’t had your tea yet Rose,” Rey says, in a superior tone of voice, “but I cannot function without tea in the morning, and I happen to know you’re going to crash in about five minutes.” 

Rose grins sheepishly, “Yeah ok, but it’s the first day of spring and the sun is shining--” 

Rey feels herself soften as she looks out the window. The weak, British sun is shining and she walks to the window to feel the heat of the sun on her broken face. It's a welcome relief after the winter they’d had. 

“Rose, what section of Physical Chemistry are you in?” Rey asks curiously. 

“I think I’m in section five. I have that old guy, who smells like cheese crisps.” Rose wrinkles her nose, and Rey finally smiles. She can still switch sections of her classes, it’s not too late for that, but she doesn’t know if she wants to yet. “You know we’ve got to go to the clinic and get your pretty nose set right?” 

Rey shrugs, “I don’t want them to break it again.” 

“Well… I guess I could do it…” Rose helps out at the local hospital, trying to get hours in before she goes to medical school. 

Rose sets Rey’s nose as gently as she can and Rey whimpers slightly at the pain. But she’s no stranger to injuries, and getting her nose set isn’t something to cry over. 

They have tea, and it’s seven in the morning before they set off, running through the small fishing town.

They’re running around the small town, trying to make their six-mile run, but Rey’s face burns, and her nose feels like it's going to fall off from the pain. Just as she’s about to throw in the towel, Professor Solo jogs by. He’s wearing jogging pants, which cling to his ass and make her cheeks flush. 

Rose has been struggling with the run too, not ready for the hills, dips, and dives this jogging path throws at runners. Even Rose would admit that she’s slightly out of shape. Still, Professor Solo runs by at a hefty clip and doesn’t pause at all on the way up the biggest hill in town. 

Rose gives Rey a look that clearly says _if you don’t chase him I will_. Rey rolls her eyes affectionately. Rose has known Rey’s secrets for the past four years and Rey’s attraction to Professor Solo is no exception. Rey calls out, “Professor!” and takes off after him, forcing her tired body to match his pace.

Professor Solo turns his head, and then his whole body twists, and he’s running backward up a damn hill with all the grace of a large cat. How is this man so light on his feet, Rey wonders. She’s five foot two, and even she can’t run that gracefully. 

“Top of the morning!” It sounds comical in his American accent, and Rey smiles. He’s giving her a smile, and his wide grin is at odds with the last image she had in her head of him scowling deeply about grades. “You left in a hurry yesterday,” he comments offhandedly, and she feels like such a fool. 

“I did,” she says, panting after him, and he slows his pace, his incredibly long legs slowing to a power walk so she can keep up. 

“You should know…” Professor Solo runs a hand through his slightly sweaty hair. Rey takes a moment to appreciate that he doesn't have it up. “I think you’re a very good student, Miss Smithson.”

Rey gives him a skeptical look, “I’m clearly not though, if I failed,” she quotes with her fingers, “‘ _The first and easiest test of the year_.’” 

Professor Solo sighs and stops walking. The action is so sudden that Rey slams into his chest. He at least has the courtesy, she thinks, to look apologetic as he helps her regain her balance. 

“It wasn’t my best work,” he admits as he holds her shoulders and inspects her for damage. 

Did he… did he just admit to not being perfect? She catches Rose hiding, and apparently trying to give her space, “I have to go,” Rey says, and his face falls. 

“Why do you have to go?” Professor Solo asks, one of his brows quirked. 

“Because my friend is trying to get in shape and talking with you is not helping her,” Professor Solo looks abashed, and takes off at an easy pace. There’s no hurry to his footfalls, and she gets the feeling he’s not upset with her. Maybe this is all in Rey’s head - maybe he just wants to know her better. 

Rey walks back down the hill and fishes Rose out the bushes, where she’d been bent double trying to catch her breath. 

“How did it go?” Rose inquires. 

“He’s insufferable!” Rey says, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you alright?” She says, in a slightly softer tone of voice. 

“I need a shower,” Rose says, and limps forward, “And an ice pack.” 

Rey smiles warmly at her friend, and loops an arm around her to help her walk. She would deal with Professor Solo later. 

**Author's Note:**

> dont' forget to leave feedback if you enjoyed!


End file.
